Council backs local diversity school book scheme

To coincide with World Book Day on 4 March, we're pleased to announce we're contributing £1,000 to support a local initiative that will see more books in the city’s schools featuring positive black characters.

The Open Minds Project, led by Grace Toby, a local mother-of-three, is hoping to raise £7,000 to purchase books for each key stage in primary and secondary schools in Brighton & Hove.

Accountant Grace, who grew up in Nigeria and has lived in the city for 10 years, said: “As a mum to three young children who visits the library, bookshops, schools and other public places, I have struggled to find a reasonable representation of books with black characters depicted in a normal positive way. A lot of people have had a similar experience”.

The objective of the charity, The Open Minds Project, is to facilitate knowledge about the lives of black people through books and conversations (book clubs, etc) – realising that there are many with an open mind who want to unlearn, learn and relearn.

The Open Minds Project (TOMP) is supported by teachers and parents who assess the books to be donated. The books are sourced from local bookshops to support the growth of local business and entrepreneurs.

Since registration in November 2020, TOMP has donated hundreds of books, run a children’s drawing competition, delivered BLM assemblies and developed teaching resources to accompany the books provided.

The CLPE’s 2020 Reflecting Realities report states that in 2019, only 5% of children’s books have an ethnic minority main character, a stark contrast to the 33.5% of the school population being of minority ethnic origin. The proportion of black children is far less.

The deputy chair of the council’s children, young people and skills committee, Councillor Elaine Hills, said: “We know that black and ethnic minority characters are massively under-represented in books in our community and this needs to change.

"We are really pleased to support this initiative and hope that the Open Minds Project is successful in delivering books to as many schools in the city as possible.”

You can support the charity’s crowdfunding at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/arienrhi-toby

For further information to request curated books for your school or to volunteer, do contact the team by emailing info@openminds.org.uk, @TOMPUK on twitter or @TheOpenMindsProjectUK on Facebook.